I know some will say it is nerdish, but sitting in my armchair with the season over, I can re-run our tracks on screen and recall the fun. Just as you would with photos.
It is a bit but I've always had a fascination with maps and adding gps data to re-run my routes in 3D on GoogleEarth just takes me back there.
With skiing, my favorite stat is the distance covered in a day with skis on and I usually aim for 30 miles for a reasonable day. I know that about half of that is sat on the lifts but it gives me an idea of how hard I've skied that day.
For vertical, I generally drop about 3500m in a minute, then my parachute opens.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I downloaded a GPS tracker app for my blackberry, tested it out in La Clusaz over a long weekend prior to big trip to 3V. Found and tested the chuffnuts upload KMZ converter thingy. Switched it on the first day and tracked my, er, tracks. Then never went near the thing again, completely forgot to switch it on in the morning and just got on with the business of skiing. Had a great time without knowing nor caring how many km I'd run or vertical inched I'd descended. Fin.
Like billb, I rather think that the distance skied is more interesting than the vertical distance. http://www.skiline.cc does give that information too, although it is only a rough estimate, for the system doesn't actually know what route you took down the mountain. Strangely, though, vertical metres are spoken of more often.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
billb wrote:
I take your point. I suppose I was thinking that a less competent skier might not be quicker on reds/ blacks depending on conditions of course.
Determining the quickest way down a mountain is an interesting problem that's most relevant if you're dashing down to base to catch the final lift of the day or if you're late for a rendezvous.
For my skiing style, the fastest way is the always the steepest groomer. Bumps, powder and trees slow me down so much that it's generally quicker to take a more circuitous route without any obstacles. But, for groomers, the steeper the run, the faster I ski. And it's definitely important to avoid junctions, narrow pistes, catwalks (however short) and beginner areas.
New version with vertical metre tracking will be going live soon.
Si
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Greetings all!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Before my Avocet watch conked out it regularly recorded 6,000 daily on a normal holiday with a good group and some instruction. However, 36,000 in a week was not an easy figure as some days were inevitably less fast.
I did 9,500 in Canada with Crescent Spur Heliski on one fabulous powder day but it made my knees puffy !
Mostly there we did 6000--7,000 per good day and I reckoned 7,500 would have been about my repeatable maximum.
I too am in the "older" category, though fairly fit.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I decided to have a go at this the other day using skiline.cc to track myself. I started just after 12 and rode for 4 hours pretty quick but not flat out as I spent a bit of time chatting to people and playing on jumps. I also didn't ride the fastest lifts and one of the drags had its gate taken down so didn't register my use. However, the snow was near perfect for riding fast with the top 2 inches soft on a hard base. Moreover, the resort was very very quiet ~ 20 people out maximum so no queues and no one getting in your way. I managed 11,000 m according to skiline + an extra 500 or so from the lift that had no gate. I think I could easily have done this all day given the conditions although boredom might have been more of an issue then.
I don't think distance covered is that great an indication as you could just spend a lot of time on cat tracks which would increase this but not provide great skiing whereas if you have high vertical but low distance you can guarantee you were somewhere interesting.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Am I alone in not giving a monkeys knackers about verticals or mileage? I find this clocking up the miles/verticals a bit odd frankly but if Euro motorways are your bag I guess it's not difficult to pile on the miles/kms or verticals if you take high enough lifts
Maybe I'm odd ... in fact I am but that's another story!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
roga, nope, you're not. And as for keeping a spreadsheet of the stats for each day, sheesh, that makes train spotters seem like interesting dinner party companions.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
IMV, more than about 1000m vertical in a day is starting to be a lot.
But then I expect I'm measuring something different.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
roga wrote:
Am I alone in not giving a monkeys knackers about verticals or mileage? I find this clocking up the miles/verticals a bit odd frankly
I think very few of the people who have posted in here do that though.
I certainly don't, but I do still like to look back afterwards, and see what I have done.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Most of my quick skiing is in Niederau, I do have an advantage, because I know every turn, since I have been visiting for 40 years! I expect to clear 13/14km vert on a normal day. Best ever was 21,760 metres in 2001. I am on the wrong side of 60.
The lift queues are the biggest issue.
roga, no I agree, I was just interested to see what was possible with efficient riding. The best days out are probably a lot smaller/shorter as it takes that extra effort to get there and back.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I didn't start this as a willy waving exercise I've just been playing with my watch this year, I've only had it 5 years , and wondered whether what seemed a hard tiring day in fact was in the scheme of things. Having said that the days when there was 50cm overnight, bad visibility and only 3k achieved were even more tiring.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I just did 4,800m down glencoe today.
Granted I had to go down it 20x.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Jonny Jones wrote:
I'm boring enough to record my skiing into a spreadsheet each day so I can give a pretty precise answer.
I'm equally sad, recording this on my blog. For this season, averaging almost 8000m vert per day over 65 day season.
At places with electronic ticketing like Mt Bachelor, they even record it for you and you can access on web site - here's my 5 days so far on spring season pass ($139 BTW ):
Dates Turns Vertical (ft) Vertical (m)
4/2/2010 13 15,911 5,219
4/3/2010 14 24,915 8,172
4/4/2010 14 28,021 9,191
4/17/2010 22 37,969 12,454
4/18/2010 20 37,801 12,399
TOTAL (5 days) 83 turns 144,617 ft 47,435 m
AVERAGE Per Day 17 turns 28,923 ft 9,487 m
I would say anything over 12k is a lot. l'Alpe d'Huez have some kind of "Everest" route where you ski 8900m in a day. You can easily do over 10k in a resort with good lifts like Alpe d'Huez though.
With my 5 year old 2k is a big day but he lacks focus.
Tot is now 11 and we managed 5000 meters in a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon (ignore the elapsed time, I turned the gps on and we then spent a couple of hours having lunch).
Also GPS data can be wildly out especially in Italy - had this confirmed to me by top Strava techy honcho at the Etape expo last year.
Though actually tends to under read - last week we were climbing well over 1,000m a day, and one day 1,600 and GPS had around 750 and 1100
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Why especially in Italy?
After all it is free
After all it is free
@hammerite, Strava guy told me that the Italian mapping data that is available was not as detailed as that of the UK and French.
We were then nagging about this with our guide when in Italy after I uploaded our tracks and they showed some major discrepancies in the vertical and he, being a very intelligent Swede living in Italy for the past eight years, said no surprise as Italian mapping is renowned for being so inaccurate.
I know that the elevation issue is a major bugbear with Strava but in Italy it's even worse!
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Are you sure they use ANY local mapping data? I don't think so.
I thought they just used the NASA worldwide satellite data and OpenStreetMap like everyone else?
I've cycled a lot in Italy and can't say it is any better or worse then France. If you are on a steep slope and your position is 10m off (from the GPS) that can make a big difference to altitude if they use mapping data. If it is recorded by the phone's GPS then it is just the usual GPS altitude errors.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@davidof, like I said I had a long chat with the Strava tech guy and the pre Etappe expo (they were really trying to push Strava to the French) and he was most vociferous over the mapping data issue - though unfortunately I can't remember all the exact details.
And you must have seen Italian maps in comparison to French maps ?!
And yes we all know the Strava issues when cycling
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Sat 26-03-16 16:57; edited 1 time in total
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
According to my ski tracks my record is
28.5 miles skied
7800 vertical
17 runs
6.5 hours
Not sure if that is good or bad. Never really set out for a day thinking "how many miles can I ski today?"
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
My GPS (Garmin Foretrex 401) uses a combination of both barometric pressure and GPS data to calculate elevation. Quick changes are handled by the pressure sensor and this is slowly corrected for weather changes by the GPS.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@altis, but then when you upload to a site such as Strava that data will change from what you have on your Garmin.
It's a well know bug bear amongst cyclists who all might be cycling the same hilly route but are using a variety of GPS instruments, from the likes of a Garmin 401 through to a Sheep Phone (the worse) and you'll end up with a whole load of different vertical totals.
Strava also lets you correct the elevation using their data and that can add / reduce the vertical
So maybe for some of you using the likes SkiTracks the same misnomers exist.
I use a Suunto Saphire Peak, which as it's name suggests is Suunto's premium GPS watch for mountain activities, and that too has some pretty fundamental flaws, such as if you drop below a certain speed (as when kick turning) it will think you have stopped.
The Suunto uploads to their own site first (movescount) and that then sync with Strava so you can see the difference in elevation data as well as timing between that and Strava
@davidof, like I said I had a long chat with the Strava tech guy and the pre Etappe expo (they were really trying to push Strava to the French) and he was most vociferous over the mapping data issue - though unfortunately I can't remember all the exact details.
And you must have seen Italian maps in comparison to French maps ?!
And yes we all know the Strava issues when cycling
I have seen Italian maps but I come back to the point that Strava uses Openstreetmap and the NASA SRTM elevation database outside the US so it has nothing to do with the Italians.
Ski touring and cycling are worst affected as there are a lot of traverses across hills which seem to produce the more irregularities. You can ski downhill and strava data will show lots of ups and downs.. If you are going straight up or down (alpine skiing) things don't seem too bad.
> but then when you upload to a site such as Strava that data will change from what you have on your Garmin.
if you have a barometric altimeter in your gps Strava will take that data. The exception is the Strava app which ignores barometric altimeters. @Altis Garmin probably produced accurate elevation data.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Sorry
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Sun 27-03-16 19:03; edited 1 time in total
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
[quote="arcsinice"]Routinely 15,000 to 17,000 M vertical over 6 hours on any given day, save for powder days that bring it down to 10,000'ish M average. Thank you high speed lifts, a "five minute ""lunch"" (a donut and chocolate milk) that has been roundly criticized by many. High speed GS cruising rules!
And sometimes, such as yesterday, deliberately on these 204's...................... Czech. "em. Out.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 28-03-16 3:47; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We just did another Ski for Cancer Everest challenge in Saalbach. 8900 vert was 10 runs top to bottom which took us 3hr 15 mins. But one chap, a local guy who was aged 77, did it 27 times which would put him over 24,000m.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
, and wondered whether what seemed a hard tiring day in fact was in the scheme of things. Having said that the days when there was 50cm overnight, bad visibility and only 3k achieved were even more tiring.
